Anecdote 9
In celebration of 20 years of Linde Werdelin
Morten and I did everything together as kids,” Jørn Werdelin says. “My stepmother thought Morten and I were a couple when we were teens,” Jørn laughs.
“We would wear the same sweater. The same watch. We shared the same cultural values, and I recall that I believed everything Morten said. He was always right,” Jørn warmly remembers when talking about his childhood friend, business partner and co-founder of Linde Werdelin.
“We travelled to the South of France when we were 14. We smoked cigarettes and drank bottles of Dom Perignon that belonged to Morten’s father. We have so many great memories together”, Jørn fondly remembers.
There may be many reasons why people start a company together. But Linde Werdelin co-founders Morten Linde and Jørn Werdelin were never in doubt when they came up with the first ideas about a watch company in the early 2000s. Because it was not the first company, they made together.
When in university, Morten and Jørn were in their early 20ies and sold wine after school. The company was called LTS. Short for Linde Thagaard Smith.
“We specialized in wine from Puglia, inspired by our many skiing trips together. Morten and I were among the first Danes who went skiing as kids. Certainly, it was not as popular as today,” Jørn explains his long-time love for skiing. A sport that is very much present in the initial thoughts behind the Linde Werdelin watch company launch in 2002.
When Morten Linde and Jørn Werdelin decided to start the watch company in 2002, Morten was a designer and had created a multifunctional watch for Georg Jensen. It was made in collaboration with professional sailor Jesper Bank.
The Jesper Bank watch was a multifunctional timepiece with an analogue and a digital display. When sailing, the watch was sitting in a container that would fit into a simple middle case for everyday wear or a case with a functional turning bezel with regatta indices. And this watch was instrumental to what started it all for Morten Linde and Jørn Werdelin to launch their own watch brand.
Inspired by the innovative design for Georg Jensen, Morten and Jørn decided to go further and design a mechanical luxury watch with a detachable digital device meant for extreme sports and outdoor activities. Not least diving and skiing.
“The instrument was our reason d’etre,” Jørn says, emphasizing the importance of the digital instrument. “Without the instrument, there would have been no Linde Werdelin watch company.”
When the first Linde Werdelin watches were launched in 2006, 200 Founders Watches were made to celebrate the friends and partners that supported the original design. These early models, named Elementals, introduced the “griffs” on each side of the watch meant for the digital instrument to attach to the watch.
This design of the Linde Werdelin watches has always stayed the same, even though Linde Werdelin stopped producing the Instruments in 2012. Not only were they very costly in terms of production. But Morten and Jørn also realized that only 10% of the watch buyers opted for the digital instrument. It is, however, such an important design element of the Linde Werdelin watch that the Oktopus, Spido and 3 Timer would look out of place if launched without the original griffs.
The Linde Werdelin watch company has enjoyed quite a success, especially in 2014-2015, when the company sold 650 watches. Linde Werdelin has sold 5000 watches in twenty years and continues its success as a niche watch brand with Jørn Werdelin behind the helm.
When asked why he is still producing watches, he answers: “I enjoy the freedom to do what I wanted to do from the very beginning.”